Esperanto or English?

Have you ever dreamed of creating a language that people in the world widely speak and understand?

Probably, most of us did. Though very few of us tried our best to construct a simple language that will help bridge cultural gaps. Doktoro Esperanto, a pseudonym for Dr. Ludovic Lazarus Zamenhof, figured out a way to unite Bialystok. Tormented by the people’s endless disputes due to language differences (e.g. German, Jew, Polish and Russian), he wished to end this by inventing “Esperanto”.

Esperanto means “one who hopes”, implying Dr. Zamenhof’s goal to craft a language that will bring nations together and end the misunderstanding caused by language barrier. The tower of Babel’s curse of discord remains as people hold strongly to their language ego.

Esperanto language, more than a century old, remains the most widely spoken constructed language, though it has never been an official first or second language of any nation. It has 23 consonant sounds and 5 vowel sounds: each letter corresponds to a single sound. Zamenhof designed it simply to aid teaching and learning.

As fruit-bearing trees get stoned, growing Esperanto received persecutions from World War dictators, most notably, Stalin and Hitler. Stalin called Esperanto the “language of spies”, while Hitler had Esperantists killed during the Holocaust. Despite the exile and execution of its speakers, soon after the wars, Esperanto was resurrected and now known as the most extensively spoken constructed language in the world.

Source: Wikipedia

History of my Curiosity

Simply looking for the translation of “I love you” in different languages of the world, Esperanto caught my sight and had me digging for answers:”Which country?”, “What kind of language is it?, “What are the speakers called?” That began the hunt for info at Google and Wiki and end of my mushiness.

6 Replies to “Esperanto or English?”

Hello! You’re right that Esperanto “has never been an official first or second language of any nation.” Of course, that was never the intention. One of Esperanto’s advantages is that it does not belong to any one nation or group of nations.

My mother tongue is English, but I’ve used Esperanto a lot over the years, and I recommend it. Take a look at http://www.lernu.net

It was interesting for me to read about your curiosity about esperanto. I studied it at the university for curiosity, but esperanto became part of my life. I became an esperanto actvist at the esperanto movement and participated in many esperanto-meetings around the world. Esperanto is everywhere, and by esperanto I got good friends worldwide.

In this webpage you can download more info about esperanto that can, I think, be a nice starting point to satisfy your curiosity about the language: http://ikso.net/en/broshuro/index.php

I’m glad you have an interest in our language! I meet many people who never heard of us or think that we’re dying out. The truth is just the opposite. Esperanto speakers are slowly growing in number because of the internet. We are not large in number. But, we can be found in practically ever city of this planet.

Over the years, we’ve formed an interesting and diverse community of people who tend to have similar ideas about globalism and multi-culturalism. We even call each other “gesamideanoj” which roughly translates as “members of both sexes who have similar ideas”. You might wonder how all of that is expressed in one word, but that just goes to show how powerful esperanto really is at facilitating communication.

We have our own music, our literature and our own culture which we proudly admit is open to anyone who is curious. Beginners are gladly accepted and people who are still novices are helped and rarely chided. If you have decided to become part of us, bonvenon al nia mondo!